What The Salaf Said About Ramadhaan

“When you fast, then your hearing should fast, and your sight and your tongue from lying and sinning. Let there be a tranquility and calmness over you on the days of your fasting, and do not make the days that you are not fasting and the days you are fasting equal.”

Some of the Salaf used to say,

“Indeed Allah, the Most High, has made the month of Ramadan as a competition for His creatures, in which they may race with one another to His pleasure, by obeying Him. Thus, one group comes first and so they prosper and another group comes last and so they fail.”

Al-Zuhri said,

“When Ramadan comes, then it is [the time for] reading Qur’an and feeding others.”

Hafsah bin Sireen said,

“Fasting is a shield for the one who does not rip it apart - and backbiting will rip it apart.”

Some of the Salaf would say,

“For me to invite 10 of my companions and offer them iftar is more beloved to me than freeing 10 slaves from the children of Isma’eel.”

Abu Al-Aliyah said,

“The one who is fasting is in a state of worship - as long as he does not backbite- even if he is sleeping on his bed.”

Ubaydah Al-Salmani said,

“Be cautious of the two that break the fast: backbiting and lying.”

Mujahid said,

“If you want your fasting to be complete and sound, then stay away from backbiting and lying.”

It was narrated that when Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) and his companions were fasting, they would sit in the masjid and say,

“Let’s purify our fasting.”

Source: The short treatise “Ramadan is Before Us” - Shaykh Muhammad al-Muqaddim.